Virtual Reality Therapy for Pain Management at the Emergency Department - Trial NCT06089642

Timeline & Enrollment

Primary Outcome

NRS-Pain score at rest

Summary

Rationale: Prescriptions of analgesics, especially opioids, have doubled in the Emergency
 department (ED) over the past decades in response to frequently reported undertreatment of
 pain in ED patients. Consequently, there is a shift towards a more restrained utilisation of
 opioids at the ED. However, there are still few (non-)pharmacological alternatives.
 
 Virtual Reality (VR) therapy is a relatively new and promising technique in non-pharmacologic
 pain reduction and anxiolysis and shows positive results on pain relief and pain.
 
 Objective: Primary objective is to investigate the effect of VR on patient-reported pain
 outcomes in the ED. Secondary objectives are to investigate the effect of VR on analgesics
 use, patient-reported outcomes, and process indicators and to identify barriers to
 implementation. Last, subanalyses will be performed to compare the effectiveness of two types
 of VR: VR based on distraction (VRD) and VR based on focussed attention (VRF).
 
 Study design: randomized controlled trial.
 
 Study population: Adults admitted to the ED with a NRS pain score of 4 (out of ten) or more
 and unacceptable pain.
 
 Intervention: There will be a control group receiving usual care and a intervention group
 that receives additional VR therapy.
 
 Main study parameters/endpoints: The main study outcome is the difference in patient-reported
 NRS pain score.

ICD-10 Classifications